There are approximately eighteen gazillion BBQs going on right now, but let's take a quick trip back in time to check out a few of the more interesting things that have happened on May 30th.
Joan of Arc was just 19 years-old when she was burned at the stake on May 30th in 1431.
In the Middle Ages, a woman wearing men's clothes was heresy, even if you happened to be a valiant warrior.
Just one week after its opening on May 30 in 1883, a nasty rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to collapse made its way around New York.
Mass panic ensued and at least a dozen people were crushed to death in a human stampede. Less than a year later, P.T. Barnum’s Jumbo led a parade of 21 elephants across the bridge to advertise the its strength (and his circus).
Ol' pal of Ben Franklin and French Enlightenment leader, Voltaire, died today in 1778.
Imprisoned and exiled a number of times, he believed no single religion or text was necessary to believe in God and encouraged ideas based on reason and respect for nature. Sounds like he was a few centuries ahead of his time.
The 94th Indy-500 is taking place here in present-day U.S.A.
If you’re into spending 3-4 hours watching cars drive in 200 consecutive circles, you’d better get a move on; you’re missing it. If not, read on.
Nebraska and Kansas became states on May 30th. Henry VIII married his 3rd and favorite wife - one of the wives he didn't have beheaded. Find out what else has happened on May 30th (or any other day) here. Happy surfing!
Remember like a millisecond ago when 5 megapixel cameras were impressive? Welcome to the future.
The HTC Droid Incredible takes amazing 8-megapixel photos, has a flash and, wait for it… supports Adobe Flash! No one likes to wait for a site to load on their phone, only to end up with this:
HTC has a new activity for you, here on SocialVibe.
Check it out here and earn 100 points for your cause!
When you finish, make sure you like them on Facebook for a chance to win 4 Droid Incredible phones – one for you, and 3 for friends, a trip to Vegas (including airfare and 4-star accommodations), AND $1,500 cash! They’re also giving away another 10 Droid Incredible phones. Sounds like a pretty cool... no, INCREDIBLE way to kick-off the summer!
Have an iPhone, iPod, iPad or any products from Sony, Nintendo, Nokia, Amazon, Microsoft, or Hewlett Packard? There’s a good chance that it came from a Foxconn factory in Southern China.
It’s no secret that working conditions in Chinese factories are not good, but just how bad are they? In the past year, ten Foxconn employees have committed suicide. The latest one, a 19 year old man, jumped from the building after completing his shift.
Most workers at Foxconn are between 18 and 25 and left their parents’ farms in rural China to search for work. They often toil from 4am until late at night, for very little pay (around $150/month), sometimes standing for hours on end.
Before jumping to his death, one young man, accused of loosing one of 16 prototypes that he was responsible for mailing, told his friends that he had been beaten and humiliated by Foxconn security guards.
Foxconn brought in psychologists and Buddhist monks to council workers, as well as punching bags with pictures of supervisors for employees to hit.
While the manufacturer is often criticized by human rights groups, they say that their suicide rate is no higher than average in China. Sad as it is, even the human rights groups admit that it’s far from the worst place to work as far as Chinese factories go.
Apple and several other companies who contract with them have said that they are looking into the issue to make sure that workers are treated fairly. The problem is that what we think of as “fair treatment” differs greatly from the definition of “fair“ in manufacturing regions overseas .
Workers in these factories pay dearly for us to buy more affordable products, but who's to blame? The companies who outsource? Supervisors at the factories? Our government? Theirs? All of us? Tell us what you think.
While most agree that bullfighting is more a combination of animal abuse and ritualistic slaughter than sport, it’s still extremely popular in some parts of the world, particularly Spain and Latin America.
[Image via Washinton Post}
As early as the 1500s, Pope Pius the V called for an end to bullfighting and asked that “these cruel and disgraceful exhibitions of devils and not of men be abolished.”
Although the spectacles generally end with the animal being stabbed with a sword, they’re usually at the brink of death by that point and actually die of blood-loss and exhaustion.
Every once in a while the tables are turned and the suffering bull gets a shot at the matador. Check out what happened last week in Madrid.
Warning... it’s graphic.
Some argue that the torture and ritualistic killing of bulls for entertainment is a culturally important tradition. Others say that something being tradition doesn’t make it right; feeding Christians to lions was also a “culturally important tradition” at one point.
Was this a tragic on-the-job injury or a cruel animal abuser getting a taste of his own medicine?
Lawmakers reached an agreement this week to repeal the 17 year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that President Obama promised during his campaign to repeal. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have both said they oppose the policy that bans openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces.
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Since the start of the War on Terror, about 10,000 soldiers, including specialists and translators with excellent service records, have been discharged for being gay or bisexual. At a time when the military has had to lower standards more than once, just to barely meet recruiting goals (though a faltering economy has given it a small boost), excluding the gay community while accepting those who score lower on aptitude tests seems silly, at best. If you were performing a dangerous mission with someone, which would matter more: the individual’s intelligence or sexual preference? Just sayin’…
Anticipating having fewer democrats in Congress in November, activists are hoping for a vote on the subject before the elections, though it’s not clear whether the necessary support has been assured.
Should Congress approve repealing the policy, it’s unlikely that anything will change before December – at the earliest. However, according to The New York Times, the policy may still be in place but is often ignored:
”Secretary of the Army, John M. McHugh, said he was effectively ignoring ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and had no intention of pursuing discharges of active duty service members who have told him they are gay.”
Some gay rights groups are celebrating the progress, while others have said it’s not enough and that there are too many stipulations involved. Before the ban can be officially removed, the Pentagon must asses their “readiness to deal with the change.”
An end is in sight to one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. Late yesterday, President Obama signed the landmark Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (S.1067) into law, marking what will hopefully be the beginning of the end to the atrocities that have plagued civilians Central Africa for more than two decades.
This law is the result of 5 years of grass-roots efforts: home viewing parties, benefit concerts by local bands, and individuals sharing the story with their friends to make sure that these children are no longer used as weapons and that Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, is brought to justice.
At the request of Invisible Children, they were allowed to join the President in the Oval Office as he signed the bill into law.
While the law does not sanction any specific military action it doesn't rule it out, though diplomatic and humanitarian components will likely be the most crucial part of the comprehensive approach.
With the law now in place, Obama has 180 days to come up with a plan of action. Resolve Uganda, an organization that works closely with Invisible Children, had this to say:
"You can be sure that we’ll be releasing details of our opinion on what specifically the President should do very shortly, as well as campaigns to help make it happen. It is only the vigilance of activists and Members of Congress that can be sure to hold the President accountable to doing what’s most needed."
From Obama’s official statement:
“The Lord’s Resistance Army preys on civilians – killing, raping, and mutilating the people of central Africa; stealing and brutalizing their children; and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Its leadership, indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, has no agenda and no purpose other than its own survival. It fills its ranks of fighters with the young boys and girls it abducts. By any measure, its actions are an affront to human dignity.”
Hollywood royalty, founder of Sundance, serious ally of Mother Earth, and Brad Pitt look-a-like, Robert Redford, is hoping that the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf last month will help people see clearly why green legislation is critically important.
Often credited with making green trendy in Hollywood, Redford has been on the board of the National Resources Defense Council for 30 years, went green before "green" became a verb, and is often hailed as one of the few celeb environmentalists who actually "walks the walk."
Check out his new 30-second message to all Americans:
Right now, in the marshlands of the Gulf States, oil-soaked animals sit dying as workers attempt to limit the already extensive damage caused by April’s devastating spill. Take one minute to send this message to the current administration, asking them to pass legislation that will "put America on a path to a clean energy future."
A young heron sits dying amidst oil (May 23rd)
Large oil companies have the $$$ and willingness to fund political campaigns and very frequently do, making it difficult for politicians to stand up to them. Campaign finance reform is a whole other can of worms but (for now) we the people have to let officials know it’s time to step up if they want to stay in office and continue to serve us.
Redford wants to remind politicians that public land belongs to the public, not any particular administration, and that drilling on these lands is never okay.
Marshlands of the Mississippi Delta, taken May 23rd
Visit www.nrdc.org/cleanenergynow and help make the voice of the public louder than the voice of profit hunters at large oil companies.
A super easy action that supports clean energy for years to come? We’re all over it!
UK company Tesco Mobile polled 4,000 Brits, aged 18-65, to see what they thought were the most important inventions of all time. The results might surprise you…
According to the final list, the almighty iPhone, deemed the 8th most important invention of all time, is almost as significant as Penicillin, and more essential to human existence than flushing toilets, cars, and space travel. Wow.
Don’t get me wrong, there are almost as many iPhones as there are employees here at the SV HQ - the few Blackberry users keep to themselves to avoid ridicule. Kidding! But seriously, 8th place?!
The Internet nabbed the number four spot and Google, eBay, and Facebook all made the list. Makes sense - how else would we find, buy, and show off the other 97 items without ever leaving our beds? Beds, incidentally, are number 42.
The group deemed Wellington boots (rain boots) to be 85th – go Wellies! While no one likes soggy feet, we still don't know how they beat spell check.
We’re not entirely sure what “nappies” are, but apparently they’re the 62nd most important invention EVER. If they’re talking Zzz’s, we’re in agreement.
Binoculars made the cut at number 78, which we can only assume means there were quite a few bird watchers in the study. That, or there are a lot of peeping Toms out there. Eeek!
Push-up bras (a likely fave of those binocular fans) and Post-it notes were regarded as vital, but conspicuously absent from the list are the printing press, chemotherapy, vaccinations, the cotton gin, recycling, anesthesia and soap. Never fear – with the iPhone at number 8, there should be an app for each of those shortly.
Check out the full list below and see what else made the hot 100.
What would you name as your top three? Tell us in the comments.
100 GREATEST INVENTIONS
1. Wheel
2. Aeroplane
3. Light bulb
4. Internet
5. PCs (why not Macs?!)
6. Telephone
7. Penicillin
8. iPhone
9. Flushing toilet 10. Combustion engine
11. Contraceptive pill
12. Washing machine
13. Central heating
14. Fridge
15. Pain killers
16. Steam engine
17. Freezer
18. Camera
19. Cars 20. Spectacles
21. Mobile phones
22. Toilet paper
23. Hoover (vacuum)
24. Trains
25. Google
26. Microwave
27. Email
28. The pen
29. Hot water 30. Shoe
31. Compass
32. Ibuprofen
33. Toothbrush
34. Hair straighteners
35. Laptops
36. Knife and fork
37. Scissors
38. Paper
39. Space travel 40. Kettle
41. Calculator
42. Bed
43. Remote control
44. Roof
45. Air conditioning
46. SAT NAV (GPS)
47. Wi-Fi
48. Cats-eyes (your guess is as good as ours)
49. Matches 50. Power steering
51. Tumble dryer
52. Bicycle
53. Sky+ (like TiVo)
54. Tea bags
55. Umbrella
56. iPod
57. Taps (faucets)
58. Crash helmet
59. Wristwatch 60. eBay
61. DVD player
62. Nappies (diapers… we think)
63. Ladder
64. Sun tan lotion
65. Lawnmower
66. Make-up
67. Chairs
68. Sunglasses
69. The game of football (soccer) 70. Sliced bread
71. Sofa
72. Razor blades
73. Screwdriver
74. Motorways
75. Head/ear phones
76. Towels
77. Push-up bra
78. Binoculars
79. WD40 80. Mascara
81. Hair dryer
82. Facebook
83. Escalator
84. Hair dye
85. Wellington boots
86. Spell check
87. Calendars
88. Cheese grater
89. Buses 90. Post-it notes
91. Gloves
92. Satellite discs
93. Pedestrian crossing
94. Baby's dummy (pacifier)
95. Curtains
96. Bottle opener
97. Food blender
98. Dustpan and brush
99. Desks 100. Clothes peg
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![[Associated Press image]](http://thevibe.socialvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/serve_openly_ap-400x333.jpg "serve_openly_ap")
